Mettlesome, Mad, Extravagant City
<p>New York City emerged early in the life of the new nation as the most important American city. It boasted 500,000 inhabitants by 1850 and, thanks in part to massive immigration from Ireland in the wake of the potato famine, 800,000 in 1860. Brooklyn, a separate city, grew to 200,000 inhabitants by 1860, bypassing Baltimore, Boston, and New Orleans.</p>
<p>New York’s economic dominance grew with the completion of the Erie Canal, a growing railroad network reaching far into the hinterland, and the emergence of an immense transatlantic cotton trade brokered by the city’s finance and insurance elites. Its Native and Dutch origins had faded into distant memories evoked mainly by place names, and the spirit of commerce helped establish an unapologetic tone of life. The nation’s leading newspapers, magazines, and books emanated from New York, and so did its art, theater, and music. In 1855, one book in particular evoked the sweep and surge of life in the swelling metropolis: Walt Whitman’s <em>Leaves of Grass</em>.</p>
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